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USC Trojans Men's Basketball: USC defeats UCLA Bruins in sold out Galen Center

The USC Trojans swept the UCLA Bruins!

By nickdempsey

For more videos check out USC Athletics and Pac-12 Networks on YouTube.

The USC Trojans beat the UCLA Bruins on the football field back in November, they beat them in basketball back in January, and on National Signing day they beat them in recruiting. Thursday night the Trojans continued the trend in front of a sold crowd at the Galen Center with an 80-61 victory!

From the Recap at the Ripsit Blog:

""We expect to win every game we play in. Whether we play defense is the determining factor," said Jacobs, who led the Trojans in scoring with 17 points. Well, USC's defense certainly showed up on Thursday night, holding UCLA to 35 percent shooting from the field, which is the 10th time the Trojans have held an opponent to 40 percent or less shooting. In comparison, USC shot 45 percent from the field, including 10 buckets from beyond-the-arc, which is the seventh time this season the Trojans have scored 10 or more three-pointers. The Bruins' 61 points is also a season-low much to the credit of Trojan guards like Jacobs and McLaughlin as well as post players like Nikola Jovanovic.

"When you play UCLA, you try to take their strengths away as best you can," said the head coach. "Down the stretch we were able to rebound the ball.""

Highlights from the Pac-12 Network on YouTube:

Analysis from GalenCentral.com:

"UCLA scored 61 points on the night, 10 points fewer than its previous season-low. The Bruins shot 34.8 percent from the field in the game, including a paltry 29.7 percent in the first half.

Despite allowing a whopping 17 offensive rebounds, USC made it difficult for UCLA to cash in on those extra chances, as the Bruins only put up 13 second-chance points. ... The Bruins actually attempted more threes (26) than the Trojans (25), but didn't make many perimeter shots. UCLA only made seven threes, and never really developed an inside game to help out the outside struggles."

Coach Enfield's presser following the victory:

Recap from Reign of Troy:

"Even though McLaughlin waited until well into the second half to get on the board as a scorer, he logged ten assists and looked back on his game.

Player of the game: Jordan McLaughlin; 9 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds

Stat of the game: USC had four players in double-digits — Elijah Stewart, Julian Jacobs, Katin Reinhardt and Bennie Boatwright."

Jacobs and McLaughlin presser following the victory:

From ESPN:

"USC didn't waste any time being aggressive, with Jacobs scoring five seconds into the game off the opening tip. The Trojans kept up their energy throughout the half, outscoring UCLA 14-5 for their largest lead, 35-21. Reinhardt and Stewart hit consecutive 3-pointers and Stewart dunked off an alley-oop pass from McLaughlin to cap the spurt. McLaughlin finished with nine points after not scoring until the game's final 5:22."

Bruins Nation states that the USC victory over UCLA may have eliminated the Bruins from March Madness:

"Bye Bye NCAA Tournament."

Fight On!

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